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1999 ford contour 2.0
My car won't pass VA state inspections (yearly inspection) because the brake light is on. When I slam on my brakes, I feel a pulsating, but they can lock up almost easily.
I took it to a car place, they said it has ABS but for some reason the ABS light is not coming on, ever, and someone may have disabled it fron behind the dash.
This place thought I didnt have ABS at first and once they found out all the equip. was there they said it'd be 3-5 hrs of electrical diagnostics at $89 an hour and that they didnt have time to do it, to make a schedule for another day.
The brakes work fine except that they lock up, i dont have a problem with that.
I need a cheap way to fix this, I am buying this car from someone, they released new rules this year for the inspections apparently, they say the brakes have been working like this for over a year, and i trust them.
When I pull the parking brake the light gets brighter until i put it down, the light dims.
I'm thinking there is more than one circuit that controls this light, and I could clip this particular wire in one of the circuits.
But I need to know which wire, or come up with another solution.
my theory is that someone had a prob. with the ABS system (2-3 owners ago) and didnt want to dish out a lot of money, so they did this
P.S. the wiring diagrams in my haynes repair manual aren't detailed enough.
Last edited by chris8852; 07/23/06 09:06 PM.
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Originally posted by chris8852:
1999 ford contour 2.0
My car won't pass VA state inspections (yearly inspection) because the brake light is on. When I slam on my brakes, I feel a pulsating, but they can lock up almost easily.
I took it to a car place, they said it has ABS but for some reason the ABS light is not coming on, ever, and someone may have disabled it fron behind the dash.
This place thought I didnt have ABS at first and once they found out all the equip. was there they said it'd be 3-5 hrs of electrical diagnostics at $89 an hour and that they didnt have time to do it, to make a schedule for another day.
The brakes work fine except that they lock up, i dont have a problem with that.
I need a cheap way to fix this, I am buying this car from someone, they released new rules this year for the inspections apparently, they say the brakes have been working like this for over a year, and i trust them.
When I pull the parking brake the light gets brighter until i put it down, the light dims.
I'm thinking there is more than one circuit that controls this light, and I could clip this particular wire in one of the circuits.
But I need to know which wire, or come up with another solution.
my theory is that someone had a prob. with the ABS system (2-3 owners ago) and didnt want to dish out a lot of money, so they did this
P.S. the wiring diagrams in my haynes repair manual aren't detailed enough.
ok, there is actually a pretty low chance you have abs, when you turn on the car (not start) look for an ABS light, if there isnt one, then you dont have ABS. Now, if your brake light is on, there is a number of reasons... That light means that the parking brake is on, OR you are low on brake fluid. Thats my guess. If you are low of fluid this can create all kinds of brake issues, soft pedal, sieze brakes are possible... Of course, if you are low on fluid this also means you have a leak somewhere, and it seems like your contour is a base model, which means it probably has drum brakes (in the rear), which means that its very possible that you blew a break cylinder inside of one of the brakes. In which case causes the rear brakes to quit working, and since there is constant pressure in your brake system the fluid will constantly slowly be leaking. But your fronts still will work... meaning there is increased stress on the front brakes, which will cause extra heat, which will warp the rotors, which will cause brake pulsation. Basically to check if your brake cylinders are blown, park your car overnight, then before you go for a drive, check in the rear wheels, sneak behind the wheels underneath the car and check to see if there is a puddle of brake fluid in one or both of them.
*gasps*
Im done.
Last edited by AliasJerkââ??¢; 07/23/06 09:12 PM.
98 Corolla LE 1.8L DOHC 1ZZFE
TEIN H.Tech Springs
Tokico HP series Struts
Short ram air intake
Tsudo Axel Back Exhaust
... if a jelly fish stung me.. would you pee on the wound?
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I have no life
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Originally posted by AliasJerkââ??¢:
ok, there is actually a pretty low chance you have abs, when you turn on the car (not start) look for an ABS light, if there isnt one, then you dont have ABS.
The bulb can be burned out or somebody wired something up funky like he said.
98.5 SVT
91 Escort GT (almost sold)
96 ATX Zetec (i brake to watch you swerve)
FS: SVT rear sway bar
WTB: Very cheap beater
CEG Dragon Run - October 13-15
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Originally posted by chris8852:
1999 ford contour 2.0......., they released new rules this year for the inspections apparently,.....
Welcome  . What engine, how many miles, what tranny? Not aware VA changed the inspection rules this year. A few of us have had our inspections done and not been told of this.
New smog check rules, yes, but not aware of new safety inspections.
Yes, check if you really have ABS. If you do, then yes, you need to have it functioning for it to pass safety... unless you can find a "friend" at an insp........ 
Check at the wheel for the sensors.
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1e/b3/98/0900823d801eb398.jsp
"Always do the cheap and easy ones first."
1996 V6 ATX 96K miles
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Originally posted by Tony2005:
Originally posted by chris8852:
1999 ford contour 2.0......., they released new rules this year for the inspections apparently,.....
Welcome . What engine, how many miles, what tranny? Not aware VA changed the inspection rules this year. A few of us have had our inspections done and not been told of this.
New smog check rules, yes, but not aware of new safety inspections.
Yes, check if you really have ABS. If you do, then yes, you need to have it functioning for it to pass safety... unless you can find a "friend" at an insp........
Check at the wheel for the sensors.
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1e/b3/98/0900823d801eb398.jsp
lolz, I love how its a pic of a Mondeo in every single service manual (except for the Ford Cd) I have ever seen.
98 Corolla LE 1.8L DOHC 1ZZFE
TEIN H.Tech Springs
Tokico HP series Struts
Short ram air intake
Tsudo Axel Back Exhaust
... if a jelly fish stung me.. would you pee on the wound?
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The fluid was checked many times already, and is full.
The mechanics looked at the car and saw that that it has all the ABS components.
Like I tried to say before, when I turn the car on, the ABS light doesnt come on, it never comes on.
They told me someone probably got behind the dash and disabled it somehow.
Rear brakes work well (I can lock them with the handbrake).
Front brake pads are at at least half.
I could be wrong but there is also evidence that someone has done work underneath the dash (plastic parts broken which secure certain dash controls, and the diagnostic connector not being secured at all to where it drops down while im driving).
Thanks.
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1999 2.0 liter 4 cylinder
I dont know what tranny
115k miles
I'm pretty sure I see the sensor and what looks like a relatively thick wire connected to it (like in the diagram). It's black and plastic looking on the outside.
Thanks
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Originally posted by chris8852:
...They told me someone probably got behind the dash and disabled it somehow.
........
I could be wrong but there is also evidence that someone has done work underneath the dash (plastic parts broken which secure certain dash controls, and the diagnostic connector not being secured at all to where it drops down while im driving).
..
Maybe you should consider another car. Not knowing what was done to the electronics of the car could be dangerous. They probably removed the ABS bulb behind the instrument panel so that it doesn't flash or come on. If you do the same for the parking brake, it will also fail safety inspection.
"Always do the cheap and easy ones first."
1996 V6 ATX 96K miles
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I dont want to "disable" the parking brake light as such... The parking brake and whatever this problem is seem to be on different circuits since if I pull the brake the light gets stronger.
So if I could isolate the circuit, I could cut the wire and the light would still work for the parking brake.
I have faith that the brakes work fine after driving the car for three months... It'd be a shame to see the car go to a junk yard because of this...
The real problem is that its the only thing I can afford and I have to have a car. I can only afford to make payments, and these people from my church are letting me buy it from them for $1400, $200 a month, witholding the payments now until I get it fixed, and don't mind me skipping a payment if I run into hard times.
The most important thing to me in a car are the brakes, when I test drive a car its the first thing I check, stopping distance... And I trust these brakes.
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Even if you isolate the system and disable the light, the inspector will notice wheel speed sensors and an ABS pump and if the ABS light dosen't come on at startup you still fail inspection. Your only option is to have the system diagnosed and repaired. Even if the light is removed or burnt out the repair shop should be able to retrieve ABS trouble codes from the system and it shouldn't take 4 or 5 hours to do that.
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